Chapter 60

“I think what Tian Mi said is right. Look at how beautiful Tian Xin is, and she has a good job. Why would she be interested in someone from your family?”

“Exactly, it’s like a toad wanting to eat swan meat.”

“Come to think of it, now that you mention it, this situation feels a little familiar.”

“Familiar? It’s just like our unlucky Commander Zhu, isn’t it? Another one trying to latch on with dirty tricks.”

“Heh! No wonder I felt something was off. Tch! You’re a boy, you have arms and legs. Sure, you’re a bit short, ugly, and chubby, but as long as you put in the effort and work the land, who’s going to stop you from marrying? Even a person with leprosy can find a wife.”

“Well, that’s not right. With such average conditions, who would be interested? You can tell their thoughts are all about greed. My Lao Liu is a Deputy Regiment Commander, and I didn’t even dare to introduce my Xiao Shuzi^[1]Husband’s younger brother. Oh, my Xiao Shuzi is a truck driver with a solid job, you know.”

“Hey, you know, I’ve been thinking. Zhou Dajun’s wife hasn’t come to join the military, but his mother has been staying here enjoying life all year round. There must be something fishy about it. Could it be another forced engagement?”

“…….”

As the military wives continued to talk more and more, Feng Erhua’s face grew paler.

It was then that she realized her little tricks only worked on the uneducated villagers back home.

Now, she couldn’t even fool these women in the family compound, let alone the officers.

She felt frustrated and regretful, wishing she had listened to her eldest son’s advice. Now… she hoped this wouldn’t affect her son’s work.

With that thought, she instinctively tried to faint.

But before she could even roll her eyes, a stern voice interrupted her:

“Quiet down! Tell me, what’s going on here?”

On the other side, Lou Luhui was directing people to set up a temporary performance stage.

From a distance, he saw Commander Wang walking towards him, hands behind his back, with a not-so-happy expression.

Lou Luhui casually moved his gaze away, pretending not to see him, and bent down to work with the soldiers.

However, the leader headed straight for him: “Luhui, come here.”

Lou Luhui…

Lou Luhui dusted off his gloves and walked over to Commander Wang: “Commander.”

After calling out, he didn’t say anything else and stood there, waiting attentively.

Seeing his reaction, Commander Wang, who had been waiting for him to speak, choked and then sighed, “Fine… let’s put that matter from yesterday on hold for now.”

It seemed that Old Chen’s guess was right. This time, Lou Luhui wasn’t pretending to be clueless: “Are you talking about the matter with San Mei?”

Commander Wang coughed and explained, “Lin Kun, that kid, still has a good impression of the young girl Tian Xin. It’s just that, unfortunately, he got a task, so he won’t be able to come back this year for the New Year.”

Of course, he didn’t mention the fact that his irritable second son had nearly spat blood from anger.

Though Lou Luhui had anticipated this outcome, he still pretended to be regretful, “Maybe it’s just not meant to be…”

“Hey! Hey! What are you talking about? It’s not about fate! I was just thinking, you’re right, Tian Xin is still young, so there’s no rush to find her a partner. We can wait another year or two…” Commander Wang himself felt a bit embarrassed about this suggestion.

What really angered him was that, even though he had no shame left, his two sons at home were even more disappointing.

So his face darkened further. “Forget about that topic. Let’s talk about today’s social event. Help keep an eye on the political commissars, like Chen Gang and the others. Some single young women will be coming to the island. With so many people, there could be complications, and things might get messy…”

As he said this, Commander Wang looked at his subordinate’s handsome face, then paused for a few seconds before suggesting, “You should just handle things from behind the scenes. Don’t show up at the event. With your looks, it’ll only make things harder for the single soldiers.”

Lou Luhui was speechless. “Commander, I’m married.”

He hadn’t participated in past years because he didn’t want to, but this year he agreed because his wife wanted to see it. He had already made plans with Tiantian.

Commander Wang laughed and scolded, “Exactly! That’s why I don’t want you to go. Don’t you know how you look? If it were up to me…”

“Er Yi Fu^[2]Mother’s sister’s husband.! Er Yi Fu!” At that moment, Chen Zhao ran up, calling out, interrupting their conversation.

Seeing his nephew’s anxious expression, Lou Luhui’s heart skipped a beat. He quickly stepped forward, crouched down, and asked, “Zhao Zhao, what’s wrong? Is it your Er Yi…”

“No, no, Er Yi’s fine, my mom’s fine,” Chen Zhao quickly interrupted, stopping Lou Luhui’s worrying thoughts. He took a few deep breaths before explaining the situation.

“What? Who does he think he is? Let’s go! I want to see who dares to mess around under my nose!” Before Lou Luhui could say anything, Commander Wang’s face darkened with anger.

Even without his desire to have Tian Xin become his daughter-in-law, he couldn’t tolerate such vile behavior in his army.

If this kind of thing was allowed to succeed, wouldn’t everyone start imitating it?

What kind of discipline would there be then?!

“Let’s go, Luhui, let’s go see what’s going on.”

Lou Luhui, worried that his pregnant wife might be disturbed, reached over and lifted Chen Zhao onto his back, striding toward the health station.

At the same time, the situation at the health station had reached a stalemate.

Feng Erhua wasn’t stupid. She no longer dared to hope for Tian Xin to be her daughter-in-law.

But she couldn’t allow anyone to find a way to use this against her eldest son.

So, she had no choice but to stick to her story that Tian Yu had agreed to meet her son, which was why her youngest son had come here. 

As for everything else, as long as she kept crying, she didn’t believe that these face-conscious people would dare to do anything to her.

“…This is ridiculous! Stop crying, Feng Erhua! What are you doing, crying like that? It’s as if we’ve bullied you!” Tian Yu had never seen anyone so shameless. Crying for no reason, looking all pitiful as if they were the ones being bullied—it was enough to make anyone sick.

Feng Erhua didn’t say a word, still covering her face and crying miserably. She was just trying to cry everyone out of here.

Political Commissar Liu was obviously getting annoyed by the crying. Just as he was about to wave his hand and dismiss everyone, Tian Mi, sensing his intention, suddenly spoke up:

“Political Commissar Liu, since this trouble was caused by Feng Erhua, we can’t just let it go like this. Otherwise, similar things will keep happening in the future, don’t you think?”

“Exactly, since Feng Erhua dared to speak nonsense and drag people into it, we can’t let her off lightly!” Tian Yu fully supported his sister’s approach.

Having been in a leadership position for many years, Political Commissar Liu certainly understood that things couldn’t be let go easily. Even if he dismissed everyone now, he planned to talk to Zhou Dajun privately later, to give him another warning.

However, seeing that the Tian sisters seemed to have their own plan, he didn’t rush to say anything. Instead, he asked, “What do you plan to do?”

Tian Mi didn’t look at Feng Erhua’s acting but instead smiled at Political Commissar Liu. “This is what happened. Just now, Feng Erhua said that the town head of their village wanted to arrange a marriage with her family, but she didn’t agree. I’d like to trouble you to check on Deputy Battalion Commander Zhou Dajun’s records, find out which town he’s from, and then we can call to verify the situation.”

Striking at the weak point, since Feng Erhua was refusing to acknowledge her lie with no evidence, making up stories about the town head’s daughter would give her something to chew on.

Even if they couldn’t pin a charge like hooliganism on her, offending the town head was no small matter. In a time when village officials could crush people, Tian Mi was curious to see how Feng Erhua would manage to stand her ground in the future.

Political Commissar Liu didn’t know about this yet. He glanced at Feng Erhua and her son, feeling at a loss for words.

He had never encountered someone who was so bad at scheming, nor someone who handed out evidence so easily. He gestured to his bodyguard to give a few instructions.

After the bodyguard ran off, Feng Erhua didn’t even care about the cold ground, and as her legs gave way, she fell and sat down, crying even louder, “Wuwu… I didn’t lie, I swear, I’m so wronged! Tian Yu’s little sister told me herself that she wanted to meet my son, how can they treat me like this… Wuwu…”

Commander Wang, who had just arrived, heard this and immediately became furious. “Bullshit! Before Tian Xin came, I was already thinking of having her married to my Lin Kun. I mentioned it several times, but they refused, saying they’d wait until the girl grew up. How could they possibly want someone like your son?”

At these words, not only were the military families who had been watching dumbfounded, but even Tian Mi and Tian Yu were left confused.

Lou Luhui, who had been carrying his nephew on his back, also darkened his face.

Political Commissar Liu walked up to his old comrade, lowered his voice, and gritted his teeth, “Lao Huoji^[3]Old buddy/mate, this isn’t right! Didn’t we agree on doing this properly? Why did you bring it up several times in private?” He also had a son, didn’t they agree to wait until the girl was 18?

Commander Wang felt guilty for a moment but muttered in a lower voice, “Don’t get angry, Lao Huoji, besides, the Tian family still has another younger girl…”